Biology:Black Republican cherry
| Black Republican cherry | |
|---|---|
 Image of Black Republican cherries, from the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection | |
| Genus | Prunus |
| Species | Prunus avium |
| Cultivar | 'Black Republican' |
| Breeder | Seth Lewelling |
| Origin | Oregon, United States, c. 1860 |
The Black Republican cherry is a cultivar of Prunus avium, sweet cherry, that originated in Milwaukie, Oregon. The cherry's parentage is uncertain; it began as a chance seedling that the horticulturist Seth Lewelling found in 1860 and let grow up. Lewelling thought the seed came from a Black Eagle cherry tree, but he didn't know the other parent. After several years, he decided to propagate the tree, because of its big--for the time--and firm fruit.[1] Because the Black Republican was the first cherry that stood up well to shipping, Lewelling made more money from it than he did from any other fruit he bred.[2] The cultivar was widely planted in both Oregon and California.
The name Black Republican originated as a slur against abolitionists, Republicans, and, in Oregon, even Democrats who opposed a politically dominant group of Democrats known as the Salem Clique. Lewelling, whose came from a family of abolitionist Quakers, named his cherry, in 1864, shortly after the National Union Party had nominated Abraham Lincoln for re-election and called for a constitutional ban on slavery. "It being a time of great political excitement," Lewelling explained, he was "feeling somewhat patriotic."[3][4]
The fruit of the Black Republican is fairly small by modern standards. It is firm and deep purple in color. Some say it has an intense taste and is well-suited to preserving.[5] But by the early twentieth century the Black Republican was being surpassed by its offspring, the Bing cherry.[6] Today the Black Republican is a rare variety, with about 200 acres in commercial production. The cherry is listed as an endangered heritage food in the Ark of Taste.[7] For home growers, the tree is available from some West Coast nurseries.
References
- ↑ Ziedrich, Linda (2025). First Fruits: The Lewellings and the Birth of the Pacific Coast Fruit Industry. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-962645-30-0.
- ↑ Lewelling, Seth (1893). "Horticulture in Early Days". The Second Biennial Report of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture to the Legislative Assemby, Seventeenth Regular Session: 242-245.
- ↑ Ziedrich, Linda. "A Black Republican? Seth Lewelling and His Cherries". https://www.academia.edu/150964027/A_Black_Republican_Seth_Lewelling_and_His_Cherries?sm=b.
- ↑ Failing, W. S. (1893). "Our New Fruits". Second Biennial Report of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture: 145-48.
- ↑ Ark of Taste
- ↑ "Biennial Report of the Board of Horticulture of the State of Oregon, 1905" pg. 106
- ↑ "The Ark of Taste". Archived from the original on April 16, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110416054657/http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/pagine/eng/arca/cerca.lasso?-id_pg=36#risultati. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
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